The Future is Scary

Really scary. Like murderer in your closet scary. Like filing taxes when you've embezzled millions scary. Like  Rush Limbaugh scary. But don't hide under your afghan! I promise to only bring delightful banter, nothing more.

In one month I move back to the States. A week after I return, I start my 8th trimester at NCC. Which means I only have 5 more trimesters until I graduate. *see above picture for my reaction* Now, I am fairly certain I know what I want to do after college. And that's Peace Corps. I know for a lot of people it's seen as a cop out to go into the Peace Corps. It's what you do when you don't know what to do. But, let me tell you otherwise. The application is a lengthy and intense process, I'll be working on it for my last year of college, and I sincerely want to use my life and time to help people in a different country. So, is it because I "don't know what to do after college?" No. I want to do this. Sincerely.

But after that? Fulbright? I'm still looking at options, but if I spend 27 months abroad for Peace Corps, and then come back to the States, I think I may have an aneurysm. If I can find a *paid* way to continue teaching English, or do research in another capacity, I will jump on that opportunity. My advisor, my guardian angel, and I are going to have several meetings about this very subject come Winter Term.

So what conclusion will we come to? Peace Corps, Fulbright, ....? I have about 4 years accounted for there, and after that, an infinite abyss of nothing. I'll try my best to find another job abroad. Hopefully Spain's economy will have turned around, and I can live and work there. (Well, here. Since that's currently my location) Or, I'll follow my life-long passion and do theatre in Chicago. I've had my hand in almost every department of theatre, maybe someone will hire me as an usher, or the girl who untangles wigs.

In short, I don't know what the future holds. What career will I have? Where will I live? Will I be living on Ramen when I'm 30? Nobody knows. My grandma will be asking me EVEN MORE if I've met any nice boys who I'm seeing. My mother will be begging for grandchildren (she's already started that). My dad will be drinking a beer. And I will probably be trying, in some part, to save the world, minus the spandex and cape.

Not Another Political Post

Personally, I don't want to write a political post. I am super in to politics, I relish in debate. I'm an avid advocate for my party, and I voted early to support my team. However, I know that nothing I say will change the stubborn minds of either party, and more than likely will just cause severances in friendships that I kind of like having. After the last election, I almost lost a good friend. We didn't speak for months afterwards. I almost hit her in the hallway, it was brutal. So. I will keep my opinions to myself. Unless asked, because then it's just a whole lot of fun!

We will all have that face on tomorrow

I don't know what it is about politics that intrigues me so much. And rather than ignore it and become complacent like many of my young adult counterparts, I actively seek out political ads. Maybe it's just because I'm living in a foreign country and the ads aren't around that I want to see them. But I love to watch the ads from both sides. It's just funny. There's so much that goes in to making one guy look like "the man" and the other to look like a bozo. But in all reality, most minds are made up. And the ones that aren't, probably aren't the people we want voting anyway...

Here's what I have to say, because I know you're dying for my opinion on this (and if you aren't, go read someone else's blog. I don't mind). Vote or don't. It's up to you, it's your right to vote and your choice if you don't. In all reality, will it have a huge effect if you don't vote? Depends. Do you live in Ohio? Then yes. But until we throw out the Electoral College, it really doesn't make a lot of sense either way. But, I respect you whether you vote Democrat, Republican, Green, Libertarian, or not at all. As long as you have a good, thought out reason for doing what you do. Apathy is unacceptable. At least in my book. I had a friend today that told me she was not voting because she did not feel well enough educated on the issues to make the right decision. I feel like that makes sense. And I support her.

Main point being: do what you do. Just don't be belligerent about your opinions, that just gets us nowhere in a hurry.

Parallel Trains

Every now and then I have some pretty enlightening dreams. Then again, I have some dreams where I try to eat Scooby Snacks and discover that they taste really bad. Both of these things happened last night. I'm trying to be better about remembering my dreams, and trying to figure them out as the day goes on. So here's my first public attempt at interpreting my dreams.

At the beginning, I'm sitting on the train, (Metro, or otherwise. I don't think it really matters where it is in this particular dram) and I'm talking to my friend, Cassi, from home. We're pretty good friends, and we've chatted lately, so this seems pretty normal. And then a second train pulls up next to us, going the same direction, and some friends with the guy I fancy are inside! I'm excited, and I try talking to them so we can all get together. He keeps telling me to get on his train. In the midst of my frantic searching for a way from one train to the other, they both pull away. Shortly after this, I wake up.

I'm obviously the sexy train on the right

So I got online this morning to see what trains signify in dreams. According to Freud, it's a penis. (SHOCKER) But some other interpretations are control, lack of control, or life's journey. While I think that life's journey is probably the most accurate symbol, I also just spend a lot of time on trains. I live in Europe after all. So, okay, life's journey. There's mine, my train, my friends, my life. And then there's his train, with his (and my) friends, and probably his life as well. Although we met at a certain "station" of our lives, these trains are now heading on their own paths. This is kind of sad. Because although we are heading in the same general direction, and can see each other through the glass (hello interpretation of facebook) we can't truly interact outside of this visual connection.

The two things I can take out of this are as follows:
1. They are still trains. They can meet up at another time, at a different place. They turn, their paths change, they go back sometimes. This is not a period on the end of the sentence, it's an ellipsis. So, yay! Hope for the future.
2. Move the hell on. My train is going somewhere new and fantastic, places I've never been before. I could wait around, looking at the other train and where it's going, ooooor. I could look at all the beautiful places I'm going.  This train has no schedule, no definite stops, no destination, just a journey. And I would be wasting that journey if I held on to the other train.

So, if you stumbled upon this blog looking for a specific interpretation of dreams, congratulations! If you had this same exact dream, stop doing your weird Inception stuff and go get a real job that's less Watergate-y.
KByeeeeeeeeeee

Unrealistic Expectations

I've been so great at keeping up with my other blog that I've decided to start a new one. Such a horrible idea, as I am quite the procrastinator, but I thought it was a nice idea. While my other blog, findmeinthe800s.blogspot.com is mostly concerned with my travels around Europe, this blog is more for me. If I have an idea that I want to share, or just a random thought that has pertinence to me in a moment, I will likely put it up here in Mindless Musings. It will probably not be a coherent blog from one post to the next. I do not guarantee that it will always been enlightening, funny, or provocative  I don't even guarantee that it will be good. But you know what it will be? Mine. All mine. Mwahahaha.

Ahem. As for introductions, I am Carlee. I am starting this blog at 7:30pm on November 2, 2012 because I have an ear infection, and this is the most fun I thought I could possibly have while sitting in my bed almost all day. As far as I go, besides this day in particular, I am a barrel of monkeys kind of girl. I enjoy traveling, in fact, I live in Barcelona right now. I'm a Spanish major, Theatre minor, Secondary Education minor (maybe).  Well what are you going to do with that, Carlee? Well, Mr. Italics, I don't know for certain. At this point I would really love to join the Peace Corps. And that's probably what I'm going to do for the 2 years following my undergraduate degree. After that, I'll get my Master's degree in something that is important to me and will in some way help other people in their lives.

How else to describe myself? I am 5'11" ish...unless you're a casting director, which means I'm 5'9". In the metric system I would be about 1.8 meters tall. (Yeah, living on the other side of the world makes you think about the metric system, and stuff) Apparently  I can be a bit pretentious, but hey, I'm a study abroad student. Aren't we all? Anyway, I'm hoping to make this blog a daily occurrence that will eventually supersede pen and paper for me. Minus the juicy stuff...that stays private. You never know when I may run for public office.